


Cute Daily Nothings

by IamV



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, anything and possibly everything, demonfire, inspiration taken from, otp prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-10-19 12:06:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10639512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IamV/pseuds/IamV
Summary: Cute daily nothings in the lives of Demonfire. Mar’i Grayson and Damian Wayne and otp prompts. Send if you wish.





	1. Of Biting, Falling and Midnight Thoughts

 

_Bitsy-Bites_

 

“No, we need to buy Galaxy Yum-”

“Your ridiculous sugar cereal is not a necessity on our grocery list, Grayson!” curt and calm Damian crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.

 

Mar’i and he were in the middle of making their grocery list when his lovely girlfriend insisted on cereal. Normally, he wouldn’t care about her choice in sugar-charged processed grains but as of late he’s been in the mood to annoy his girlfriend. He didn’t know why, it was just in his system to be in the mood to watch her pout and stamp her foot.

 

So far it was working, Mar’i was defending her cereal and her hair was flaring behind her just short of being set aflame. Feeling a smirk pull at the corner of his lips he turned to go into their living room area. He didn’t hear her steps following him, but he felt the heat off her body as she floated to trail behind him.

 

“If we’re buying your dumb Ciabatta bread then we’re buying Galaxy Yum!” she was above him, hair spilling forward between them warming his face. This was admittedly ridiculous. But this was also too amusing. Her cheeks were puffed up. _Cute_. Reminding him of how she used to do that when they were kids he couldn’t stop the slight breathy laugh that escaped his mouth.

 

Taking this as a scoff, Mar’i bristled before letting herself drop to the floor, “Bite me!”

“Where?” Without missing a beat, Damian's lips curled devilishly

 

There was a slight moment of silence before her cheeks flushed and Mar’i was a stammering mess. Grabbing her wrist, Damian pulled his flustered girlfriend into his lap. Mar’i was only able to make a tiny gasp as Damian anchored her to him.

 

_Couch Fall_

 

He had lost count of the time that had passed since they’d started kissing. Was it ten or twenty minutes ago? It felt like it was much longer. He felt her hands trail from his hair to his neck and down to his shoulders. Feeling her warm hands push him back into the couch, he separated their lips to catch his breath. Letting his hands smooth over her legs, he hooked his hand under her knee bringing it over his leg and having her straddle him. Now she was leaning over him, he pressed his lips to her collarbone. Her flesh was warm under his touch. He let his arm wrap around her waist, her hands moved back into his hair. He hissed at the feel of her nails against his scalp. Moving his head head back up to press kisses to her jaw, he felt her move her head to face his, reconnecting their mouths.

 

Tilting his head to slip his tongue into hers he wondered if they should go into their bedroom but her fingers digging into his shoulders made him forget. Her hands came up to cup his jaw keeping him close and kissing him harder. He decidedly began maneuvering them to lay down on the couch.

 

Laying her on her back without breaking their lip lock he followed suit as he loomed over her, barring himself on his forearm to keep from crushing her.

 

At least, that was the plan.

 

He may have miscalculated in the heat of the moment. His forearm did not make contact with the couch, instead he fell off the couch. And was left sprawled on the floor.

The giggling from the top of the couch, had him pressing his forehead to the floor.

 

“You okay?” Mar’i’s voice still bubbling with laughter.

 

_2a.m. Thoughts_

 

Damian climbed in through the window of his shared apartment with Mar’i. Sighing quietly, he began to remove his suit as he made his to their shared bedroom. Normally, he was orderly and methodical in his removal of the robin suit, but tonight he was too tired to care. His cape spilled behind him as he unclipped it, his hands moved to undo the notches on the vest as he stepped into the dark hallway. He knew their apartment like the back of his hands, he removed the utility belt and the vest was dropped to the floor. He held onto the belt, that he would place it on the nightstand by their bed.

 

The door to their room was left ajar as pushed it open to go into their bedroom. Making his way to their dresser he grabbed a pair of sweats and began to toe off his boots and removing the nomex blend bottoms of his suit. He was in the process of pulling on his sweats when he heard the sound of his girlfriend’s energy blast swirling in her hands. A cast of pink light came over him as he finished pulling up his pajamas. Turning around to face her, he saw the glow in her eyes diminish before she flopped back into bed.

 

“X’hal, you scared me.” he heard her sleepily mutter in her cocoon of sheets. Contentment washed over him as he made his way over to the bed. Mar’i had already scooted over to one side and he settled himself into the mattress. Slipping under the covers and reaching for Mar’i, he laid himself on his back and relaxed. Mar’i had draped herself over him, her head on his chest as she breathed in his smell. There was a slight moment of panic as he worried about body odor but a press of Mar’i lips against his jaw qualed all harried thoughts.

 

He had just closed his eyes when Mar’i spoke, sleep seeping into her voice.

“Hey..”

He hummed to let her know he was listening.

“If you work as a security guard in a Samsung store, does that make you a guardian of the galaxy? Y’know like the phone-hmph!”

 

He’d normally hurl a pillow at her but tonight he was too tired, and opted for smothering her into his chest instead. “Go to sleep, beloved.”

  
**Thanks for reading -V**


	2. Of being Caught and in Dentention and finding a kitty together.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inspired by diamondfireforever and corvidae_queen and their comments. As well as a tumblr prompt.

_Couch Caught_

Bruce had been on his way to his room when he caught sight of the light flickering the den. ‘Mar’i probably left the t.v. on’ musing to himself he went to turn it off.

Upon entering the room he saw his favorite and only grandchild and his son curled intimately around each other. He paused in the doorway, not quite understanding what was going on. He reasoned that maybe they fell asleep and Mar’i had curled herself around him. She did that all the time when she was little. He moved to switch off the t.v. and debated whether to wake the two.

When the sound of t.v. flicking off sounded he heard movement. Damian. He had to have woken up, or so he thought. He turned to see Damian’s eyes open except they didn’t in his direction.

He looked down at a sleeping Mar’i on his chest and wrapped an arm around her and shifted them so that Mar’i was sandwiched between the couch and his body.

 

He didn’t even notice his presence.

 

Bruce regarded them for a pause before turning to leave.

That had been the first time he’s caught them. He had left it as…. Well he didn’t know what he thought of it. A part of him disapproved of a relationship between the two. The media would have a field day with it. He didn’t want either of them hounded by the media, not when they were so young. If they were older then perhaps it would be alright to allow it but-

 

The other part of him approved if they were, in fact, together. Mar’i was his granddaughter, and although the idea of her dating anything had never sat well with him, he supposed that if it was Damian, then she wouldn’t leave Manor.  

And keeping their relation a secret he could understand. He was hurt that the two would have decided to keep it a secret but he could find scenarios as to why they would.

 

Of course it could simply be that the two had simply grown closer. Platonically, that is. Mar’i had the same ability as her father to befriend most anything. Perhaps it was just that.

 

The second time he caught them, he decided that perhaps it **wasn’t** platonic. They were in the den again. But instead of on the couch, they were sitting on the floor with their backs pressed to the couch. Damian was touching Mar’i hair, letting his fingers twirl around the strands and Mar’i  was leaning her shoulder on the couch not at all minding that her hair was being played with. Telling him something about her school Bio-Chem club. She was chatting animatedly, gesturing with her hands when Damian took hold of her wrist, bringing her palm to his lips. The look they shared, it was more than friendship.

And a voice in his head told him to be concerned but he wasn’t. His son looked content, he looked happy. He looked in love. Something he had quietly thought wasn’t possible but it was there. And it made something in his chest swell with something akin to happiness.

He turned to leave, but not before making a purposeful step that would make a noise to warn them.

This was okay. This could be fine.

* * *

 

Perhaps there should have been more concern over his son and granddaughter being in love so young, but it was fine. He’d witnessed more puppy love scenes than he could count.

He could recall finding them talking amongst each other in the den or the in the gardens. A few times on the rooftop in the early mornings of twilight or deep in the middle of nights. It was harmless, it seemed. It was just the two of them enjoying each other’s company.

Though, he did begin to signal at Damian about girlfriends and the like in an attempt to get him to admit to it. He didn’t receive any concedence but he did get a slightly pink-faced _harrumphing_ flustered young boy walking away from him.

 

Now was not the time to be fondly remembering his son and granddaughter’s bubbling romance.

“You knew, didn’t you?” there’s a cold fury in Dick’s barely calm voice.

He doesn’t say anything; doesn’t even react. But it’s confirmation nonetheless.

“You knew and you didn’t tell me!?”

Dick had seen them. Had caught them kissing. “Be-smooching” is the word Dick had used in the midst of his outrage. And Bruce had to physically stop Dick from murdering Damian.

 

He doesn’t answer, he just lets Dick rant and hopes that Damian heads to a Bat-Bunker for his own safety.

 

_Stuck in detention_

 

“You can’t blame me for this, y’know.” she was absently twirling her hair and looking out the window of the classroom. She had waited to say this when the detention supervisor left.

Bristling, Damian said his words from the side of his mouth, making a point not to look at her. “Is that what you think? And pray-tell who was the first to jump out the window?”

“Well then why’d you freaking follow me?” annoyance was lacing itself in her voice.

She was annoyed at everything now. She had done what her dad had. Left Gotham and started a vigilante team. Except she didn’t join the Teen Titans like everyone thought she would. Like she was expected to.

 

Nope Mar’i Grayson started her own vigilante team dubbed the Outsiders for mettas because Ms. _I-Call-For-Fucking-Reform-Cadence-Lunahtica_ was publicly prosecuting metas and sending them to a Us territory metal island called St. Trinity Avidad to “help” them. And no one was doing anything about it. At least that’s what it felt like.

 

Mar’i recognizes that what she did was rash. The Justice League was planning to help solve it, Uncle Beast Boy uncle Vic and Aunt Raven were working on it… but it just wasn’t happening fast enough. It felt like no one was doing anything.

And she wasn’t raised to stand by and watch people get hurt. And so, she gathered a team: Wildfire, Apollo, Black Cat, and Jaguar and did what would go down in history as the heist of a U.S. territory.

 

And she was here, in the shorter named Trinidad metal city that runs alone and away from the United States (At least for now, Chairwoman Cardoza expressed annexing to the state of Washington but that wasn’t concrete) and here she remained as a ‘civilian’ attending one of the newly placed schools in this city. _Her_ city.

 

“Everyone’s concerned over you” his voice was quiet. Calm like always,but she got the feeling he sensed the storm she had burning inside.

“I’m not entirely sure, why that is.” he drawled, “why anyone worries over you, is a mystery that is to never be solved.”

She couldn't help the curling of her lips and giddiness in her chest. It felt nice. It felt nice to have someone believe in her. And it felt even better to have the King of Condescending-ness believe in her when everyone else thought she was _way_ in over her head.

 

“What’re you doing here anyway?” turning in her chair to face him.

“Recon. How this city is floating in the ocean is a mystery, too.” and she caught sight of his smallest of smiles.

“Well since you’re scoping out the territory, how about I show you this awesome burger place? They’ve got yummy veggie burgers.” she tempted in a sing-song voice.

 

_Joint Custody Cat_

 

“Daddy do you have a baby names book?” Dick looked down at his five year old daughter. Her eyes were determined and bright and wanted a book of baby names.

“Starshine, why do you need a baby name books?”

“To name the baby.” she cocked her head and her mouth twisted to an almost pout. Why didn’t he just give her the book.

 

“What baby?” Her dad’s worried tone went unheard by the young child.

“That one!” Instead she pointed at a nine year old Damian the moment he came into the kitchen.

 

Tim cackled in his chair by the island and Damian bristled but refrained from going to punch him.

“She’s referring to the cat” He voiced instead, revealing the infantile kitten in his hood.

“It needs a name!” Dick turned to his daughter, now curling her little fingers in his shirt. “Where’s mom? Does she have a book?” she said pulling on his shirt.

 

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose, he blamed Bruce for letting Mar’i do anything she wanted and allowing her to take in as many stray as she wanted. And now, he letting Damian do the same.

“Mar’i we’ve talked about this.” he brought his daughter onto his lap. “You can’t keep anymore pets, you can’t take care of all of them.” _We don’t have the room_ he thought to himself. 

 

Mar’i didn’t start tearing up like he thought she would. Instead she very aptly turned to Damian, “You found him with me. Take responsibility!”

“What?” Deadpanned the nine year old boy.

 “I can’t keep him, so he’ll live with you. I’ll buy the toys and lasers for him, deal?” he should be surprised at his daughter’s very business tone. But he wasn’t, not at all. Not with the amount of time she spent glued to her grandfather's side

 

“And what of litter box training and the common habit of breaking most anything? Am I to manage that on my own? I’ve never even kept a feline before, anyway.”

“Then _learn_.” rebutted Mar’i now perched on the island. “You have to take half responsibib-bilidy-” 

“Responsibility” Damian corrected. “And no I don’t”

 

“You don’t want him?” she said, arms crossed.

“No I didn’t say that-”

“Then we have to cut it in equals” Damian raised an eyebrow at her words.

“I have money cuz I do chores. So you’re a stay at home parent, since you don’t have a job”

 

“Your manual labor isn’t a job”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t.”

“Yes”

“No”

“Then, if you don’t want to be a part of my kitty’s life, I’m taking her” Mar’i moved to get off the island counter.

“No you don’t. You can’t make that decision” holding the small cat closer to himself, “You don’t even know its gender.” he supplied.

 

“I don’t have to. I’ll love it anyway!”

“That’s not the point.”

“If I love her or him then that’s all that matters! Right Daddy?” Mar’i turning to her father expecting his support.

“Mar’i we really don’t have room for a cat.” 

“See you don’t even have the ability to properly care for it!” he moved to place the small kitten down and to fill a bowl with water.

 “Cats drink milk”

“No they don’t”

“Do”

“Don’t-”

 

“May I suggest, Miss Mar’i and Master Damian that you two settle on a joint custody settlement.” Alfred smoothy cut into the bickering.

“What’s that?” Mar’i asked. Damian made a face at her, which she promptly ignored.

“It’s where the cat stays for a time at the Manor under Master Damian’s care and some time at the Grayson Household with Miss Mar’i, what do you say?”

 

Alfred received two simultaneous “okay”

 

 **Thanks for reading. -V**  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So finals took priority. 
> 
> diamondfireforever this didn't go the direction I had planned but I'm really pleased at how it turned out. I'd like your thoughts.
> 
> And corvidae_queen how's that for child interaction?
> 
> Also the Stuck in Detention bit references a story I'm working on uploading called The Outsiders that's Mar'i centric and her team. If you're curious.


	3. Booty and Skinship is Everything

_Butt Touch_

 

Cooking wasn’t his expertise, but he was capable of making something edible and filling. Damian stood at the counter cutting bell peppers for a stirfry, careful even slices began to cover the board’s surface as he cut into the colorful vegetables. Keeping an eye on the rice, he listened to the sounds of Mari’s quick typing on the floor in the living room.

He continued his rythm of slicing, checking on the rice and listening to a keyboard typing for not more than ten minutes when he heard Mar’i give a sigh, indicating that she was done with her work. She had gotten up from the floor making her way into the kitchen. Hearing her feet shuffling as she came towards him, he gave a teasing snide. “Aren’t there rules against a princesses dragging their feet?”

“Nope, pointless rules of etiquette were overlooked in favor of combat training.” she said as she went about the kitchen looking for a jar of cookies. “Dami, where’re the cookies?”

“Top shelf. Don’t ruin your appetite, I’m almost done with the food.” he said moving to take the rice off the burner. 

She walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. “I’m starving.” she whispered against his shirt.

Feeling a smile tug on his lips, he looked over his shoulder what he could at her, “Wait.” he whispered back eliciting a giggle from her.

 

Her hands moved from around his midsection to smooth down his sides and to the top of his thighs, raising an eyebrow at her actions he meant to ask but the sudden sharp squeeze of his ass had him giving a slight jump instead. “Mar’i?” he questioned turning to face her.

And with the most serious face she whispered, “I touched the butt.”

A second later she broke into giggles at him, and he couldn’t help but join her. Amidst her laughter she offered help him with  getting lunch ready.

 

A few days later, they were in bed waking up. Laying on their sides with their arms wrapped around each other, Mar’i was pushing for him ask for any particular breakfast meal. Sleepily naming off dishes against his chest, “How about pancakes? Waffles? Eggs and vegan bacon?”

And he kept responding with: “Whatever you’d like.”

Her hands had been wrapped around his waist when they slid lower and towards his hips giving a quick squeeze to his cheeks. Now more fully awake, Damian pulled away slightly to look to her face and raising a questioning eyebrow.

She had whispered against his chest. “I touched the butt.” before looking to his questing face. Instead of providing an explanation, she pressed a quick kiss to his chin. Maneuvering herself above him she declared, “I’ll make omelettes for breakfast, then.” and made her way to the kitchen.

 

She kept it up for a little more than a week. Randomly coming over to him for the sole reason to squeeze his butt and whisper “I touched the butt.” and this confused him to no end. He had no idea what she meant when she did that. Regardless, it was amusing. She’d burst into giggles afterwards and he’d follow suit and there’d be a warm atmosphere around them.

 

Now they were spread out on the couch. Mar’i was reclined on her back with Damian on top of her. He was comfortably cradled between her legs and his head lain snugly on her breasts; this was one of the many positions they got into when they watched movies. Right now they were on a disney movie marathon via Mari’s request. Once comfortably settled, he felt Mar’i hands strain to reach down his sides, raising his head with a questioning expression Mar’i answered: “I can’t touch the butt.” with a playful frustration.

About three movies in, Damian didn’t know-he’d dozed off a few times, they were in the midst of watching “Finding Nemo” and the scene popped up.

 

A little clownfish swam out to the open sea to prove a point to his father. And touched the hull of the boat to which a juvenile butterflyfish whispered, “He touched the butt.” in awe.

Raising himself on his elbows to look at Mar’i he asked, “Is that what that means?” looking exasperated.

Mari’s face is confused before morphing to a scandalized ourage.

“You haven’t been catching the reference?!”

 

_Skinship_

 

Mar’i had the tendency to absently touch him, which he didn’t mind he tended to do that too, but she did it in a slightly different way. Like now, they were lying on the couch with Mar’i laying top of him, her back pressed against his front, his arms wrapped around her middle and her absently trailing her fingers on the skin of hands. She would trace his skin, the veins and the scars unconsciously and it was soothing. Oddly soothing for someone who didn’t like to be touched.

 

But it was relaxing and brought him into a pensive state when she began to touch his skin. Her slim fingers trailing along the expanse of his forearms. Neat nails grazing lightly over the veins on his hands and arms whilst humming a tamaranean folklore tune. She’d trail his scars, featherlight, and he couldn’t help but think of how mis-perfectly matched they are; in the best of ways.

 

She was smaller than him, smaller statured and smaller frame, but she could easily best him in terms of strength. She was part indestructible alien and he, no matter how perfect his genetic makeup was designed, was a very breakable malleable human. His skin was littered with scars, it was easy to pierce and mark and hers was untarnished no matter what. She was happy and sweet and he had a hard time faking smiles. Mar’i liked to call him the “Queen of the Resting Bitch Face” and she was a constant array of changing expressions.

Her first lesson in combat was mercy, his was to be precisely ruthless. He was raised to have leadership in his blood, Mar’i was raised to be just and kind to her people to maintain the Star-Crossed Empire. She complemented him perfectly, fit perfectly against him.

 

He would like to think she was the light in his dark world but that was a single perspective.

She had always been a bright light to him.

She trailed the pads of her fingers along a patch of skin darkened from a burn, but she was regarded as an inky darkness for the longest time. And although he supposed it was justified, he still had a hard time grasping it. Compared to the past persons of the royal family Mar’i was the ‘’night”. The entire line of royals had some kind of red hair, and green eyes and their most recent princess was all dark locks and not-quite-as-gold skin.  Mar’i had told him that black was not a hair color existent on tamaran. She also didn’t have the character for fire in her name like all her predecessors had. She was too much sun and starlight for earth to be human and too little to be Tamaranean, that was something he never quite got but as she trailed her fingers down his open palms he interlaced their fingers and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. She was the perfect balance for him.

 

_Everything_

 

“You need to stop looking at me like that.” she said beneath him as he trailed butterfly kisses up the side of her face. Pulling away to look at her he asked, “Like what?” and proceeded to press kisses to her forehead. Then her nose and pressing a sweet kiss to her lips

Sighing as the kiss ended she added, “Like I’m everything.”

Propping himself up on his forearms he looked at her, an uncommon smile gracing his lips as his eyes gave her a question. Looking at him, she couldn’t help the slightly rushed words, he always made her feel flustered when he looked at her like that. “There should be more important things-like your life, Titus, oh I don't know maybe-”

And a press to her lips silenced her. She brought her hands to cup his face and tilted her head ever so slightly to deepen their kiss. When they separated, he pressed their forehead together. Looking to her eyes with that same look, he said: “I’m afraid you are everything, beloved. In this moment-” he kissed her cheek, “in this hour-” he kissed her nose, “And most probably till the end of time.” and he kissed her temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sun can lighten hair, so in my head everyone on tamaran has some variation of lighter colored hair.  
> Btw I mean it. Give me ideas my brain does stuff with them.  
> Also, corvidae_queen I could an entire chapter (probably more) of those two's first meeting. It would be a bunch of different scenarios and au's but I don't know how fun that would be to be read.


	4. Thieving Trolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Trolls steal your socks!"

_Thieving Trolls_

 

Damian pulled his features into a grimace as he pulled out a lone sock from his basket of a fresh-out-the-dyer load. It happened more often than he’d like, missing socks that is.

 

“Y’know what they say? The reason clothes go missing from the dryers and washing machines is because trolls come and take them,” she said from her seat on the folding island. She had tagged along with him to the laundromat in his apartment complex, offering to help but he had refused. Damian had recently moved out of the manner and chose not to tell anyone, it was just coincidence that one of Mari’s rag-tag group of friends lived in the same complex, and so they happened upon each other.

“And you expect me to believe that ridiculous tale?” he said without turning to look at her, continuing to fold his shirts.

“Trolls Exist!” She burst out in a sudden Scottish accent. He turned to look at her just short of holding back a laugh. “Are you quoting another absurd movie?”

Mar’i was giggling, “Maybe. Ever heard of “How to Train Your Dragon”?

“Are you joking? You made me watch that film how many times when we were younger?”

“Mmm, like nine times.”

He scoffed, “More like 50” and she laughed.

“Don’t try to tell me you didn’t like HTTYD.”

He slid his pile of the neatly folded t-shirts near her and began to start on a different set of clothes. “It does have a good story line, and an amazing score, wasn’t it nominated for an award?”

“The movie’s music score was nominated for an Oscar.”

“Rightly so,” he added and then they continued to a comfortable silence. He continued on to arrange and organize his athletic clothing. Calmly, he folded the bamboo and cotton blend shirt until he felt the itch of being watched. Turning to Mar’i, he gave her a questioning look before continuing. “I’ve always thought of you as a minimalist. You have a lot of clothes, like a lot.”

He turned to look around at his immense amount of clothes, “I suppose it’s more than the average.”

“It enough to fill up a clothing store, Dami.” she gave him a deadpan look. “But it’s not a bad thing, it’s just a lot more than I had imagined.” she took a sip from her coke before continuing, “Don't you have someone to do your laundry for you?”

“Not since I left the manor.”

“You don’t trust others doing your laundry, do you?”

“No, not really.” and took the offered can of coke from her.

 

* * *

 

Mar’i was reclined on his couch while he was in the process of sorting his loads of clothes, just as he was considering a break, he thought that perhaps he did have too many clothes.

“This is a day long process?” she asked from his couch, he didn’t answer. She continued, “Your sorting is pretty particular. You only do laundry once a month?”

“Yes. I'm also setting up my winter clothing.”

“Oh, you're washing it to take off the dust?” He nodded and resumed back to work, deciding to relax when he was finished. As he continued, he took note of a few missing sweaters, hoodies and few t-shirts. About forty minutes later, he went over to where Mar’i was and gently flounced himself into her arms. He managed to doze off and when he woke up, he thought of decluttering his clothes because honestly the amount of clothes he owned was ridiculous.

“Wanna order takeout? I’ll buy.” she offered as she removed her fingers from his hair.

“I assume you wish to have pizza?” he was mid sigh as he buried his nose into her shoulder.

“Yeshhh” she hissed on as she brought her arms and legs to wrap around him to give him a bear hug. He silently laughed, giving her confirmation and they continuing on the couch until the pizza came.

 

When he was decidedly full, he went back to continue to search for the missing articles of clothes. “Whatcha looking for?” Mar’i asked after finishing her fifth piece of pizza.

“Some sweaters I can’t seem to find.” he mused as he went to his closet to look again.

Green eyes watched him go as she finished her drink, “What does it look like?”

“Dark green with a thick horizontal black stripe across the upper middle”.

“Your Powerpuff girl sweater!” she said brightly. He rolled his eyes at her but gave an amused smile. “What was the character you said it looked like? Daffodil?”

“Buttercup.” she corrected, smiling widely before adding, “You couldn’t have lost it! It so nice, and you unintentionally cosplay as Buttercup when you wear it!” and began to help him look for it.

She moved to a different closet to look through when she asked about the other missing clothes. “A dark blue hoodie with two white vertical stripes going down the left side and a red and black speckled knitted sweater. A t-shirt with random splotches of white that look like stars…” he continued listing the missing articles of clothing when he noted her quietness and looked over at her. “Mar’i?”

As he got near, he saw her guilty smile and noted that she was wearing a previously thought-to-be lost t-shirt.

“You’re a troll.”

“I know! I’m sorry!”

**Thanks for reading -V**


	5. A Case of the Grumpies

_Contact Name_

 

“Who’s Grumpy Bunny?” Damian turned his head to Mar’i who was pruning her devil’s ivy, watching her falter with her scissors, he raised his eyebrow. “Umm, what?” she asked as she turned in the air to face him. Now feeling mildly suspicious, Damian continued to look at the contract name and was about to touch the call button when a very warm body bulldozed into him. Feeling the couch slightly tip on its hind legs, he wrapped his arm around Mar’i and tensed at the feel of Mari’s phone being swiped from his hand.

“Hey-” and a pair of lips cut him off and he forgets about the phone. He blames the reflex he’s developed whenever Mar’i kisses him because every time she kissed him he tended to forget the rest of the world existed; hence why there was a no kissing during patrol rule. Her lips came in contact with his neck, one of her hands went into his hair, giving a tug to his hair and he holds back a groan and what ensues on the couch had him forgetting about the contact name momentarily.

 

Later that week he sees Mari’s phone lying innocently on the coffee table. Mar’i was on the terrace getting Sygmond, her cat, out of the plants. And he takes the opportunity to look into her phone her and find that ridiculous contact name again. Now, Mar’i had a number of contact names that were on the stranger side. Like “Hot Head Honcho” was Ben Kane, her friend and self-appointed older brother, and “Bad Luck Charm” was Catrin, also her friend. But he had an itch that he knew who “Grumpy Bunny” was.

 

“What are you doing?” and he looks up at Mar’i who’s looking at her phone in his hand. He instead pulls a slight frown and says, “You should have locked your phone if you wanted to keep it a secret.” and Mar’i lunges at him. Grappling with each other for a bit until Damian had both her wrists in his hold and Mar’i had thrown her phone into her shirt. With a pout and challenging gleam in her eye, Damian reaches for his phone, in his pocket and calls Mar’i.

There’s a rubber ducky sound that was a telltale sign to her annoying ringtone and the light of her screen could be seen through her shirt. Allowing him to see the name of the number calling. “Grumpy Bunny”

He watched Mari’s flare behind her as her cheeks turned pink.

“I thought we’ve talked about ridiculous nicknames,” he asked as he ended the phone call and let go of her wrists.

 

“But you really are a Grumpy Bunny,” she said as she reached for her phone.

“How so?”

“You eat veggies and you’re always…y’know prickly.”

 

_Grumpy Cuddles_

 

They were fighting. They were fighting over something pretty stupid. Mar’i huffed as she curled her legs over the big armchair they had in the living room. Damian was at the kitchen island, still within her sight, drinking water. And she was sure she could almost see steam coming out of his ears.

He was angrily drinking water and watched the way he stiffly placed the glass back onto the counter before taking a deep breath. As he turned she watched bewildered as his glare returned and the argument resumed. Though now there was a tight atmosphere around them.

 

“Why did you wear that dress?” it was a question but the way he said it through his clenched teeth completely pissed her off. He watched as her hair flared and eyes began to glow violet.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You're mad about the dress?

“No. I’m precisely upset with the fact that it was a gift from that son of a bitch Vertez and you wore it.”

And she said something and he said something and they weren’t quite yelling but she was making the room hot when she let herself get mad and her body was radiating heat and it was wafting around the room. Evidently, she decided to leave. With both, her and Damian glaring and just tense and mad she wanted to just remove herself from this stupid mess. ‘Maybe Damian can go stab something to feel better’ she thought as she turned on her heel and nearly whipped Damian in the face with her ponytail.

\--

She had every intention of going straight to their shared room and just sleeping this entire ordeal off but she caught sight of the thermostat. Mar’i felt an itch to turn it down, because Damian, in spite his high tolerance and amazing survival abilities was sensitive to the cold. His favorite season was summer and loved the warmer climate. And when the colder season rolled around, Damian would cuddle her even more than usual, because he wasn’t so good at handling the cold if he didn’t have to.

So, Mar’i turned up the air conditioning to practically freezing and went into their bedroom. She had intended to wait for Damian to come to her and cuddle and get the fuck over this argument. But when she laid down on the bed, she fell asleep. Without Damian.

* * *

Damian felt his skin prickle at the feel of the cold air. He turned his head toward the hallway. He looked to the hallways, where Mar’i had angrily stalked to deciding to wait it out and not lose this argument, Damian sat on the couch and angrily stared at the little aloe vera Mar’i had on the coffee table. The hair on his arms stood and he reached for the throw blanket Mar’i kept on the couch. And it took fifteen minutes for Damian to chuck the blanket stalk to his and Mari’s shared bedroom.

* * *

Mar’i was startled awake. Having her comfy blankets being torn away from her was not a nice feeling. “What in fucking X’hal’s name are you-” she barely had an eye open when she felt the bed dip under Damian’s knee. A warm body was very grumpily slumped over hers and arms locked around her sides as she was pushed back into bed. Slightly disoriented, she vaguely made note of the blankets being re-thrown over their now intertwined person. Squirming her hands out from under Damian, she let her hands comb through short cropped hair and down his back. She felt a smile pull at her lips as she took in the fact that her surly boyfriend was cuddled up to her. ‘He gave in’.

“Shut up, Grayson.”

She hid her smile against the side of his head, “I haven’t said anything, though.”

“This means nothing. We’re still arguing. I am here because it’s cold.” and she felt him burrow into the crook of her shoulder. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pressed a kiss to his temple and absently hummed until she fell asleep.

 

_Grumpy Danger_

 

“Stop laughing!” Mar’i was floating now, as she shouted at Damian whose shoulders were shaking.

“Stop laughing! I’m angry!” she repeated.

“Mar’i, you have to admit that this ridiculous. It’s so absurd that it’s humorous.” Damian tried to placate his girlfriend. It didn’t work, Mar’i continued her rant about Cookie, her pet corn snake with an attitude that refused to stay in their habitat.

“This is cute,” he says it under his breath and not expecting Mar'i to hear over her own complaining. Except, She did.

“Yeah, and you're really cute with a broken nose.” and he doesn’t take offense to that because Mari's quick comebacks was always something he admired.

**Thanks for reading. -V**


	6. Lazy Day Together

They had fallen asleep. Well more accurately he had fallen asleep beside Mar'i while waiting for her to finish an assignment, Damian had dozed off amongst the surrounding pillows and blankets Mar'i had arranged on the living room floor. 

And when he woke up sometime early morning he found Mar'i tracing the scars on his shoulder. "Hey..." Smiling, voice still sleepy as she looked at him.

"Good Morning," his own voice groggy, inclining his head to look at the clock. "What time did you fall asleep?"

She sighed for a moment before moving to lay her head on his chest, "I dunno" and she brought her legs to her chest as she readjusted herself on her side.

An easy air settled over them, this was a lazy day for them, Mar'i didn't have class and he didn't have Wayne Enterprise matters to attend to. Granted there was still Bat-Business (Mar'i called it that, not him) they had at night to deal with and if anything came up with her Outsiders or the Titans then they'd be off and busy, but for now, they could rest and do nothing, save keep each other company.

It's the quiet-this particular kind of quiet where it's just the two of them in the comfort of this home they somehow managed to build while balancing their work ethics and schedules. A home that makes him feel completely at ease. Complete ease in every corner of his mind and peace in his normally and tense form.

A moment passed where he was quietly resting and he registers Mari's soft breathing and he thinks she fell asleep again. Damian places a hand on her head to check, green eyes open and stare up at him with an almost startling unflinching gaze before unfocusing and closing, she had always been easy to wake up, had he not been used to it he would have asked her to her to stop staring the way she did upon awakening but he's become accustomed to the cat-like stares Mar'i tended to give.

He watched the way Mar'i arched her back and pressed her face to his chest. And then he notes her position, he was stretched out in the space along the length of the couch and Mar'i had somehow (he shouldn't be surprised) slept in the small space between his body and the couch-her form curled like a ball legs pressed to the couch and her head and shoulders resting against his chest with her arms wrapped around one of his arms. "You're not uncomfortable?"

"Uh-uh" and she raised her legs to the couch-back of her thighs pressed to the low front and knees and calves settled in what is traditionally the seat of the couch and lying on her back. He merely raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "How was dinner with my dad?" Mar'i asked angling her head up to look at his face, she gave an apologetic smile before adding "Sorry I wasn't there to act as a buffer."

"Grayson isn't awful, you do recall that I work with him on a regular basis, right?" he readjusted Mari's weight against him and began playing with the longer strands of her hair. "He spoke a lot about your college pursuits and how he misses the" he pauses as he recalls the term Grayson had used, "boy scouts?" he made an unsure face and watched Mari's equally confused face before her eyes lit up with recognition. "oh! He's talking about Ben, Cat, Jack, and Apollo" she said before adding, "my dad took them camping and named himself den mother."

Raising an eyebrow, "You're not upset at that?"

"Well Uncle Jay is the unofficial den mother but I'm not gonna tell him," she said as she trailed her voice into a nasal tone.

Giving a quiet laugh, Damian stored away the new information about Todd, "Admittedly, I did not know that. And I was referring to Grayson's intrusion. You stayed with the Outsiders in St. Trinity for independence, yes? You're not upset at him recruiting your team?"

"Nah, my dad had been wanting to hang out with them since the day he formally met them. We all went camping together, and they really connected with my dad, weirdly enough considering how nervous they were about meeting him."

"My father likes them as well" he added quietly.

* * *

“Did my dad show you my baby pictures?" propping herself up she added, "Did he bring an album? or was it just the pictures in his wallet?" a slight hint of paranoia in her voice

"He brought a small photo album along with the ones in his wallet," Damian admitted, looking amused at the way her hair flared around her and her expression mildly panicked with a generous amount of the embarrassment painting her cheeks.

"You were a very endearing child from what I hear."

"Shut up" her cheeks pink and hands patting her hair down.

"I liked the picture of you covered in flour when you were helping Pennyworth bake a cake."

"...my dad has that picture? Well at least we know I've always liked making a mess." she shrugged as she moved to grab a handful of day-old pretzels from the coffee table.

"Shouldn't that have been a sign of your love for baking?" he lips quirked as she offered him pretzels.

a pause before he added, "You had a bat-bear."

"I still have Bat-Bear he's in my room at the Underground."

* * *

They had dozed off again and he awoke to Mar’i playing with his hair, “hmm?”

“Hmm hmm hmmm” she replied as she sat up.

“What time is it now?”

“11 a.m.”

“This morning feels very long.”

“Right?” she asked as she took a loud bite of her apple slices. “Want some?”

Taking some fruit from her plate “Why didn’t you wake up?”

“Cuz you were sleeping like a baby” half-heartedly rolling his eyes Damian stretched his arms over his head before noting Mari’s stare.

“What?”

“Just a thought,”

“About?” Damian prompted,

Finishing her apple slice, “I bet you were a really cute baby. Sucks that there are no baby pictures of you, I bet you were hella pretty.”

“How’d you come to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know, I can just see you being a pretty baby boy before growing into your looks.”

“I look like my father, love.”

“Yeah, but you also look like your mom besides I distinctly remember mid-puberty you and that's when you started looking like Grandad,” she brought her hand up to his cheek and brushed her thumb just under his eye, “I bet you were all chubby cheeks and pouty lips amidst the whole assassin training” and he felt himself leaning forward and pressed their lips together when he pulled back he had every intention of saying something sweet,

Words just on the tip of his tongue when she suddenly flicked his ear.

Flinching ever so slightly and glaring at her, she merely gave a happy smile and added, “I bet you had big ass elephant ears you eventually grew into, too”

**Thanks for reading. -V**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for disappearing, kinda.  
> Life got busy and I have been slowly but surely getting my shit together.


End file.
